Jeep 1, Chebby 0.

An interesting encounter was borne of a foolish mistake. Nonetheless, Jeep owners should be proud of the result.

I went to check on Blue, my big truck. When we're down for the Winter, she gets fired up every 3 days to get precious fluids, lubricants and air where they should be so that she's ready to go as soon as work begins again. When the engine oil temp hits 125 degrees, we grab gears and get down the highway for about 10 minutes more, to be sure that the entire drivetrain and trailer wheel bearings gets lubricated.

I jumped in this morning, turned the key and hit the starter button. Nothing. A quick glance at the voltmeter confirmed my worst suspicion: the batteries were completely dead. Another glance at the headlight switch told me why. Awwwwww....CRAP!

Rather than call out the service tech and fork over $375.00 for a jump start, I decide to use the TJL. Laugh if you must --I'm not made of money.

I put out red triangles and pulled the Jeep up next to the battery box and hook up the jumper cables. You see, Blue uses 4 industrial-strength batteries to fire up: we're talking four 1400-amp batteries hooked in parallel with zero-guage wire running to the starter. This is heavy-duty stuff here.

No sooner did I hook it up, a Z-71 owner comes to a stop next to me asking if he can help. "No thanks Mister" I reply. "You'll never get that truck started with that puny Jeep; you'll burn out the alternator trying."

Hmmm. Hadn't thought of that one. Granted, we're talking a 90-amp alternator here with what, 6-guage wiring? Not good. But without flinching I replied, "I think it can do it, and I'll bet you $50 bucks on it."

He laughed out loud. "I'll be inside --yell when you want me to use the Chevy instead." He roars into an adjacent parking lot and dissappears into the building.

Hmmm. We'll see about that!

I gave it 20 full minutes to charge. The voltmeter never rose above

12.5 volts. I kept checking on the Jeep's alternator --it was smoking hot, as was the cabling on the backside. No visible smoke, but absolutely searing to the touch.

Just as I was about to give it a try, he left the building and came roaring up next to me once again. "Hey, are you ready to give up yet?" he smirked.

I hit the starter button. And it fired up instantly...YES!!!!!

I looked back at him and smiled without saying a word. He began to roll up his window, and I heard him mutter under his breath, "G-Damn Jeep people...shee...". He quickly drove away in disgust.

Jeep: 1 Chebby: Zip.

Postscript: After I shut the Jeep down, a bit of smoke wafted up from the alternator after all, but after cooling down, it's still working just fine. I am impressed that the tiny alternator had enough guts to charge 4 Semi batteries from a completely discharged state to the point where it would fire up a Detriot Diesel in 20 minutes without catching fire.

Yes, I'm very impressed indeed. I may upgrade the alternator someday, but for now, it works just fine for me.

Reply to
JD Adams
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Cool. Did you at least get yout 50 bucks?

Carl

Reply to
Carl

Wow, when my Western Star was dead back in the winter, it took my F350 and two of the portable rechargeable starter packs and about 30 mins. to get it started. Same battery setup as yours.

I'd guess you shortened the life expectancy of your alternator, though.

Spdloader

Reply to
Spdloader

So, did you get your fifty bucks?

Tom

Reply to
mabar

Reply to
L.W.(Bill) Hughes III

You should stop being such a drama queen and buy a trickle charger. Whenever I leave the lights on in one of my vehicles, and this happens more and more often with advancing age, I just pull out the hundred foot extension cord and the charger. It only takes a few hours, and it much easier on alternators and wiring.

Earle

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Reply to
Earle Horton

No can do; the yard is 350 miles away. I live 15 mins. from the quarry, so I park it down here instead. The tractor has a 300-amp. alternator installed, and as long as it will crank over, it will eventually charge itself.

Reply to
JD Adams

Naaaa! As a rule, Chebby owners tend to always come up light anyway, so I'm not concerned.

Now, if I pull one out of a ditch, well, that's a different story. I'll have to have cash in hand before I even think about hooking up a strap.

Reply to
JD Adams

I sure could have used it. I did get cussed though - close enough.

Reply to
JD Adams

I used to have a tow-truck buddy with a 1700-amp 24-volt 'Hot Shot' system that would fire it up instantly, even if one or more of the batteries had non-charging cells. For a cold 6-pack, he was always happy to help out,...back in the Good Ol' Days.

No doubt the alternator overheated. I pushed it by putting a folded business card in the throttle body to increase idle speed to 1800 rpm. to maximize output. The smoke came from the resin covering the windings, and I'm sure it will croak earlier than it should. No big...I see a new 200-amp alternator in my future. I didn't think much of the 90 that came with it, but apparantly it's one tough little unit.

Reply to
JD Adams

Unless she's cute

Jeff DeWitt

JD Adams wrote:

Reply to
Jeff DeWitt

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